ROCKFORD—Huntley’s Ethan Blackmore just couldn’t seem to miss from the distance as he piled up 26 points with eight treys and hit several crucial buckets to keep the Red Raiders within striking distance of Hononegah.
For the Indians, the senior’s most important shot of the night proved to be his last.
Blackmore’s panicked heave from just past the center court logo at Rockford East High School was woefully off the mark as time expired and sealed seventh-seeded Hononegah’s 65-62 upset over fourth-seeded Huntley in an IHSA 4A Regional semifinal on Wednesday night.
“When Blackmore got the looks, he didn’t miss,” Indians’ head coach Tom Schmidt said. “He missed the desperation one at the end. And that was a relief to see that one fall short.”
Of course, Hononegah (12-16) had only built up a cushion from some timely shooting of its own. A trey from Lucas Crosby helped the Red Raiders cut the lead to 54-50 midway through the fourth quarter before senior Senior Lucas Touvannas swung momentum back the Indians’ way with his 3-pointer.
“Lucas coming off of the bench and playing with that much confidence is amazing for us,” senior Isaiah Houi said. “We really, really needed that today.”
Houi fed off the energy and followed the shot up with back-to-back scoring drives to the basket to up Hononegah’s lead to 61-53.
“Give Isaiah a ton of credit,” Schmidt said. “He sprained his ankle in our last game against Jefferson and he hadn’t practiced since. His ankle was feeling better going into tonight, and he re-aggravated it and had to come out for a little bit. But, he fought through it and led us to victory.”
Huntley (20-11), which finished with 12 treys, tried to chip away with 3-point shots from Christian Wilson and Blalckmore, who had two in the waning minutes.
But the Indians’ 4-for-6 free-throw shooting after Houi’s two buckets was just enough to keep Hononegah ahead for good.
Huntley’s intense press gave the Indians some trouble out of the gate as the Red Raiders racked up points off turnovers. Senior Cole Warren and Houi hit a pair of threes late to help Hononegah trail 16-11 after one.
The Indians then got ahead off some great 3-point shooting as Landon Claudy hit back-to-back treys before Houi and Tholin added to the barrage.
Hononegah’s defense helped put Huntley through dry spells with some solid work on the boards and by limiting quality shots in the paint.
“They were obviously bigger than us, but we played fast,” Houi said. “We played low, and got some charges called which was huge. We just tried to turn the ball over from them as much as we could.”
Blackmore’s three put Huntley back in front but a hard-drive from Houi gave Hononegah a 29-28 lead at halftime.
“Huntley has a great man-to-man defense,” Schmidt said. “They do a fantastic job staying in front of the ball and protecting the paint. We did a decent job finding open shooters. We didn’t force things, things came to us.”
It was back-and-forth through the third quarter with Blackmore’s trey putting Huntley ahead 43-42. But Touvannas, who scored all seven of his points in the second half, hit back-to-back layups and a Huntley turnover led to Caleb Hart launching a half-court shot that went through at the buzzer to give the Indians a 49-43 lead.
“Huntley pressured us a lot on defense, but we stayed calm and poised,” said Houi, who finished with 18 points. “We chose a great shot over a good shot, and we ran our plays well.”
Warren hit a putback off a steal from Hart to start the fourth quarter and his free throw later made it 54-47 before Wilson shortened the gap with his three.
Warren added 11 points for the Indians while Claudy had 10. Wilson and Crosby each scored nine for Huntley.
“Being able to still play and have practice tomorrow — it’s awesome for us,” Houi said. “We’re excited and we look forward to it.”
The Indians will now face a familiar foe in top-seeded Rockford Guilford, the NIC-10 champions who went undefeated through conference play, in the regional final.
“Guilford’s put it on us a couple of times,” said Schmidt, whose squad fell to the Vikings 71-51 and 72-52 in the regular season. “They’re the best team in the area that we’ve seen, and we’ll have our hands full.”
• BOXSCORE:
HONONEGAH 65, HUNTLEY 62
Huntley;16;12;15;19;--;62
Hononegah;11;18;20;16;--;65
HUNTLEY (fg ft-fta pts) — Walker 2 2-3 6, Segarsa 3 2-2 8, Crosby 4 0-0 9, Bonsai 2 0-0 4, Wilson 3 0-0 9, Blackmore 8 2-3 26. Totals: 22 6-8 62.
HONONEGAH (fg ft-fta pts) — Houi 8 0-0 18, Touvannas 3 0-1 7, Claudy 3 1-2 10, Warren 3 3-4 11, Schmall 4 0-2 8, Olson 1 0-0 2, Tholin 1 0-0 3, Hart 1 3-4 6. Totals: 24 7-13 65.
3-pt. Goals: Hunt 12 (Blackmore 8, Wilson 3, Crosby), Hono 10 (Claudy 3, Houi 2, Warren 2, Touvannas, Tholin, Hart). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Hunt 18, Hono 14.
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